Natural History of Isolated Deep Vein Thrombosis of the Calf

Outpatients symptomatic for leg DVT follow the standard diagnostic procedure (ultrasound examination of proximal deep veins, pre-test clinical probability and D-dimer, and a second US after 5-7 days) to exclude proximal DVT; they also receive by another doctor a complete US examination of the deep leg veins to assess the presence of isolated calf DVT, the results of the latter examination are kept blind to the patient and to the treating doctor, and disclosed after three months